I use the tags with string, but I'm way behind and some have fallen off. Each item has a four character code. The first two are letters indicating geographical origin, the last two characters are numbers indicating order of acquisition. I keep all the identification and purchase information in a spreadsheet. I also periodically update the kinds of prices I'm seeing for similar items. Not sure how useful that will be, but family asked me to do it. I photograph everything according to the guidelines published in the forum. Sometimes a previous collector will provide reasonably good photos. I've documented almost every item in my website, along with other things I learn.
Http://Atkinson-swords.com/